Considerations for Intervention
Skills particularly beneficial to individuals when they leave high school and enter the adult world.
□ Introduction Strategy - Teach the individual how to say ‘hello’ Provide a description of how they communicate, an explanation of how others can communicate with them. This information may be communicated by pressing a button, TouchChat, or Core Book …
□ Make Choices - Teach individuals to make choices. Practise with ‘small’ choices, such as choosing clothes or food, will help the individual acquire skills that will help with making ‘big’ choices later on.
□ Getting Help – Teach individuals how to get and communicate that they need help, situations where help may be needed, and the difference between immediate help versus non-immediate help.
□ Directing Care – In school individuals may be used to having people attend to their needs. As an adult, more often the individual will need to direct others. Teach individuals how to direct others. Help students learn to do this in a way that will not seem bossy or mean.
E.g. “If you have a minute…”, “When you get a second…”
□ Reading – Reading and spelling are VERY important skills. Build skills with functional reading activities.
E.g. reading newspapers, bus schedules, etc.
□ Core Vocabulary – Focus on teaching core vocabulary that is useful across a range of environments, topics, and activities. In the adult world it can be more difficult to access a speech-language pathologist to modify vocabulary and add fringe vocabulary. Family members and other care providers may not have the training or time to modify vocabulary.
Core vocabulary = consists of those words used most frequently across a variety of environments,
topics, and contexts E.g. help, me, not, go
Fringe vocabulary = consists of environment, topic, or activity specific vocabulary
E.g. diving board, Jupiter, horse
□ Money – It will be beneficial for students to learn about currency.
E.g. Can the student recognize the difference between $1 and $100?
□ Establish Interests Outside of Home and School – Establishing interests outside of school can open up work, volunteer, and communication opportunities. It can provide opportunities for communication as it can give the individual and those in their lives something to talk about.
□ How to Spend Time During the Day – Teach skills related to calendars and scheduling and determine how the individual will spend their time. What types of activities will the individual do during their week? Do future planning by addressing questions such as, will the individual work or volunteer?
□ Plan for Transitions – It is critical that there is a plan in place around transitions from school to work, volunteering, and/or post-secondary education.
□ Identify Physical Barriers in the Community – Work to identify physical barriers in the community.
E.g. Are bus stops accessible? How will the individual show/signal the driver when they want to get off? Is the neighbourhood coffee shop accessible?
□ Dealing with Stress and Boredom – Teach strategies to cope with stress and boredom. Be aware that stress and boredom can be behind behavior problems. Various strategies may be beneficial.
E.g. Teach the student to follow a calm down routine, explaining concepts of stress and boredom, etc.